5th of July 2023 - St Giles' Cathedral
Crowds were lining the streets in the lead up to the cathedral as they waited for some sight of the royals that would be attending the national service of thanksgiving which was being feted as the Scottish coronation.
The King would be presented with the honours of Scotland during the service which would see the King and Queen, the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay and the Earl and Countess of Ross attend.
Of course, the usual protesters were out in force using their megaphones to shout out 'not my king' just as they had done at every occasion they could get to as if their actions would have any affect many just ignoring them as they passed to take their places in the growing numbers to see the procession.
Scottish flags were being waved as people walked down the street which had been blocked off for the occasion, many dressed up in their finery for the royal Scottish occasion.
The royals would make their way down from the Holyrood Palace moving along the royal mile in the lovely weather that they were having; which was a far cry from the rain that had dominated coronation day in London.
They didn't have to wait long before the procession made it's way down the streets of Edinburgh to cheers from the crowd and booing from the protesters who were determined to drown them out.
The protesters had set themselves up just on the corner opposite the cathedral in prime position to drown out people who were truly interested in seeing the royals as they arrived.
Not even the national anthem playing completely drowned them out, although royalists were certainly doing their best but were having little success.
The Crown was carried into the cathedral by Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, 16th Duke of Hamilton, while the sceptre was carried by Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk and the Elizabeth Sword was carried by Olympian Dame Katherine Grainger.
The service would be preceded by both a "people's procession" and a royal procession to the cathedral; the people's procession consisted of about 100 people representing various aspects of Scottish life.
The Honours of Scotland were brought into the cathedral in the "People's Procession".
These were followed by members of the Scottish Parliament and the College of Justice, as well as the heads of Scottish emergency services and members of both the Order of Saint John in Scotland and the Order of the Thistle.
Military participation in the procession included mounted elements of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and pipe bands from the Combined Cadet Force and Army Cadet Force A Tri-Service Guard for the Honours of Scotland was formed by detachments from the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, the Band of The Royal Regiment of Scotland and Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, with a close escort of the Royal Company of Archers.
The royal party was escorted by the Royal Marine Band (Scotland), the Pipes, Drums and Bugles of the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.
Charles and Camilla were dressed in their the Order of the Thistle finery along with William, while Catherine, Adeline and Simon opted for a more formal but dressed down look that they used for other services.
People cheered and waves as the royal procession made its way from Holyrood Palace and down the royal mile, the six car procession catching attention as it moved down the road at a steady pace.
Arriving outside of the cathedral, Charles and Camilla climbed from the front car as the national anthem was played again to welcome them before they were welcomed to the cathedral by bagpipe.
They were followed by the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay and the Earl and Countess of Ross, the chanting by the protesters all but ignored by the royals who weren't even surprised that they were there.
The Stone of Scone was also moved to the cathedral for the service, having not long returned to Scotland after it's use in the coronation and in preparing for it's new home in the new Perth Museum.
The service itself included the First Minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf, read from Psalm 19, while the sermon was given by The Right Reverend Sally Foster-Fulton, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Blessings and statements of affirmation were made by representatives of Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Tibetan Buddhism and Humanism.
The main element of the service was the ceremonial presentation of each item of the regalia, which the king touched before returning them to their bearers.
The Dean said that in offering the royal symbols to the King, "we celebrate the peace and unity of our land and its people, and together we dedicate ourselves anew to serving the common good of our nation".
The Honours of Scotland are the oldest crown jewels in Britain.
They consist of the Crown, the sceptre and the sword of state.
The newly-made Elizabeth Sword was used at the ceremony, replacing the older sword which was deemed too fragile to be used.
They were last used in a coronation in 1651 at the Scottish coronation of Charles II at Scone Palace. During the visit of George IV to Scotland in 1822, the Honours were formally presented to the king, the origin of the current ceremony.
Dame Katherine Grainger presented the Elizabeth Sword by saying: "By the symbol of this Sword, we pledge our loyalty, entrusting you to defend our laws, and to uphold justice and peace in our land".
The King replied: "In receiving this Sword, I so promise by God's help".
Lady Dorrian presented the Sceptre by saying: "By the symbol of this Sceptre, we pledge our loyalty, entrusting you to seek the prosperity of this nation, the Commonwealth, and the whole earth".
The King replied: "In receiving this Sceptre, I so promise by God's help".
The Duke of Hamilton and Brandon presented the Crown by saying: "By the symbol of this Crown, we pledge our loyalty, entrusting you to reign as our King in the service of all your people".
The King replied: "In receiving this Crown, I so promise by God's help".
The service concluded with the singing of the National Anthem, "God Save the King". Once the service was completed, the royals returned to Holyrood Palace in procession the cheers a lot louder than they had been before with Scottish flags and union jacks being waved at them as they passed.
Returning to Holyrood Palace, they were greeted by the national anthem before heading through the palace for the next part of the day; the six of them talking between themselves, the weather holding firm despite the cool breeze in the air.
There was a 21-gun salute given at Holyrood Palace before they were treated to a flypast from the Red Arrows, which covered the sky in red, white and blue smoke.
To end the ceremony, the King and Queen were given a royal salute with the national anthem playing again.
"That was eventful," Simon mused knowing that the protesters had been a lot louder this time than they had been at the last few royal occasions and had been allowed to get a lot closer to the main event than they had before.
Catherine laughed at that, no doubt it would be covered by the news about some sort of unhappiness with what they were doing.
It had been a bit unnerving to have the cheers drowned out by the booing and the chanting of the few protesters that were in attendance; there was more people there to support them than against them but it never got easier.
"It could have been worse," Adeline noted knowing that there had been an incident where protesters had thrown things before, it was just unfortunate that they had blocked people who had actually wanted to see them from being able to do so.
The six moved back into the palace knowing that after this they were officially on break until September and they were all looking forward to it.
There was a lot going on behind the scenes that the public wasn't aware of and they had been very busy this year; the coronation and all that entailed.
Charles looked at Adeline and William, the two strong pillars that supported his reign and he knew how lucky he was to have them by his side in all this along with their support.
He was going to need them more going forward, there would be hard decisions to come eventually and he knew that he had to make them for the sake of the future.
William and Adeline had always been close and Charles was thankful for that closest, they would need each other when he was no longer here just as he leaned on his own siblings now his parents were gone.
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